Toren Daen

The Relictombs were, by nature, nigh impossible to understand. The twisting connections of spacial pocket dimensions transcended what was considered common sense, providing challenge and danger to all who entered. The djinn had condensed all of their world-bending knowledge, all of their understanding of the secrets of the universe, into each of these zones.

Each dungeon floor was designed to bestow some sort of insight of aether to the ascender. It was a last-ditch attempt at preservation, keeping knowledge away from the oppressors.

Few had made progress in gaining that insight. Instead, people only saw the surface-level rewards of gold and glory, skimming over the bountiful possibilities these tombs presented.

If one could understand the way aether intertwined with the world, they could do anything. Rewrite space. See forward in time. Create new life.

And as I gazed up at the towering structures of steel and glass around me, I found my already exhausted mind struggling to find a reason why. How could this place bestow any sort of insight? How could it lead to knowing aether?

Because all I could see in the looming skyscrapers, casting a deep shadow under an overcast sky, was a heartwrenching reminder of my previous life.

The zone I had stepped into looked like an Earthen city. Tall, corporate buildings kissed the sky, crisscrossed by miles of asphalt and concrete. Power lines trailed along the empty, forgotten sidewalks, where traffic lights changed color for long-gone cars.

In my previous life, men would peer from the top of those towers, looking down figuratively and literally on the pedestrians below. People would mill in droves, walking to their jobs or classes or events or clubs.

But there was not a soul in sight. I was in a city of ghosts.

I felt something building inside my chest like a dam about to burst, the pressure increasing exponentially. It coursed from my lungs and into my throat. And then I couldn’t contain it anymore.

I laughed, deeply and sonorously. It echoed out into the dead street, a traffic light turning red. There were no cars to stop.

My laugh was uproarious, pressing against my sides until it hurt. The breezeless air accepted my maddened cackle like a debtor, drawing it from my lungs with a command. I had dealt with the absurd for so, so long.

I felt tears gather at the edge of my eyes. My chest ached from my laughter.

The Relictombs had thrown so much at me. The constant reminders of my previous life were always there at the edge of my sight, mocking me with their similarity. The zone I had been in before was clinically close to a common twenty-first-century suburb, but it was small. There were ten houses at max, and then the illusion vanished.

But this? This was a city. It was the pinnacle of old-world urbanization.

I almost didn’t notice when the atmosphere shifted, a strange force weighing in the air, running thin fingers across my spine. My laughter finally died as a hand cracked through the concrete near my feet with the sound of splitting rock. The fingers were gnarled and twisted. Grey, sloughing skin barely clung onto a skeletal forearm.

A dozen more hands thrust through the asphalt around me, filling the air with the sound of crumbling stone. The things started to haul themselves out, allowing me to get a glimpse.

They looked like mangled corpses, each and every one of them. Some were trailing their innards on the ground behind them. Others lacked skin everywhere on their bodies or only had one arm. Each body was unique, covered in armor and holding strange weapons in their thin hands. Many looked months into decomposing, but they stood and walked all the same.

But the most haunting thing about the corpses arraying themselves before me were their eyes. They glowed a deep, calling violet. Those pupils seemed to flare in time with the weight in the air, all attention focusing on me.

I barely had time to react as twin blades of wind scythed toward me. I flipped sideways, allowing each blade to narrowly pass by, but a sphere of sturdy stone nearly hit me. Instead, I used a telekinetic push to fling myself toward a lamp pole nearby.

I balanced precariously on the pole, just in time to notice several of the zombies point their hands toward me lethargically. My eyes widened in surprise as fireballs and shards of metal blurred in my direction.

I threw up a wall of pushing force, deflecting many of the errant metal shards. When the fireball reached me, however, I caught it in one hand, feeling the heat sear at my telekinetic barrier. I threw the fireball back down like the world’s most lethal baseball, aiming for one of the closer zombies.

A wall of ice arose to block the attack, causing a slight puff of steam. I glanced to the side, seeing another corpse–this one looking barely female, with long, decaying hair and without an arm. That one had acted to protect the other.

It snarled a guttural, grating sound. Like that of nails being drawn over a chalkboard, yet somehow even worse.

Blades of cutting wind soared toward me once more, shearing through the metal pole I stood on. It toppled forward, taking me with it. Yet I let myself fall toward the cluster of living corpses, instead conjuring a handful of fireshot around my head.

Some of the zombies moved exceptionally quickly, some lingering trace of mana empowering their bodies. I focused on them as the metal pole fell.

I let my fireshot fly with a burst of telekinesis, simultaneously drawing Oath and Promise. I sent out a plume of fire as a wave of frost, wind, and earth cascaded toward me, conjured by half a dozen ragged zombies.

My fire was quickly overwhelmed by the many spells, but it allowed me to use my telekinetic pushes to vault over the approaching tide of mana.

I surveyed the damage my spells caused in that split instant, feeling a wave of disappointment. I noticed a few smoking holes in the rotting bodies where my attacks had struck, but no blood seeped from their wounds. One of my fireshot spells had punched a hole straight through a corpse's chest, a gaping void where the lungs should be. Yet it pulled itself forward, undeterred.

I landed solidly, deflecting an errant blow from a corpse swinging an axe. The hit had a surprising amount of power behind it, but the blow was sloppy. Before I could follow up, another volley of attacks carved divots in the earth as the multi-elemental barrage soared toward me from every side.

I deftly spun my saber, the cutting edge suffused with mana that enhanced its sharpness. It sheared straight through the axe-wielding zombie’s neck, but I had to immediately throw a telekinetic push against the ground to avoid being overwhelmed.

The spells clashed in a whirlwind of force right where I had been a moment before, the shockwave ripping through the air. The attacks made my leap out of the way twist slightly into a tumble, making me need to reorient as I tumbled.

That made me unable to react when a stream of fire impacted me midair, blowing me off to the side. I crashed into the concrete with a thud, cracking the stone. My telekinetic shroud shuddered, but held firm. I twisted deftly to get my feet under me, lashing out with an indiscriminate wave of fire to clear the area.

The corpses around me were scorched, pushed back with snarls and clicking teeth. They tumbled over each other as the force rippled outward, bodies falling over in a pile of limbs.

That was when I noticed the make of the armor. Many of the corpses had armor with a slit down the spine, exposing tattered flesh.

But some still had glowing runes along their spines.

These were people, I thought with horror, realization dawning. These aren’t just creations of the Relictombs. They’ve raised corpses, somehow.

I was unprepared for the second wave of hands thrusting through the stone. One of them erupted right below my feet, the skeletal hands immediately latching onto my ankles. I brought Oath down along the wrists, severing them with ease.

But the bodies kept rising. Where before there had only been a couple of dozen, now I couldn’t count the pairs of hands fast enough.

I’m going to be overwhelmed if I stay here, I thought, turning away from the slowly approaching horde and looking toward one of the tall buildings. They’ll just keep coming.

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I threw out half a dozen telekinetic pushes as projectiles swarmed toward me, flares of white meeting smashing through rock, wind, and flame. I tilted my head, letting an arrow of metal shear past my cheek. I heard it strike the concrete behind me.

“Toren!” a familiar voice called out with a hint of desperation. “Over here! Come on, quick!”

Any other mage would have had difficulty hearing it, but my sense of hearing was beyond comparable mages. I turned slightly toward the voice as more corpses piled closer, wondering if this was another trick of the zone.

A burst of wind impacted the skull of one of the emerging zombies, obliterating it out of nowhere. Yet I recognized the spell that had just been used.

Promise soared out of my hand, drawing a jagged line across an approaching zombie’s neck. Oath, shivering with searing fire mana, decapitated another zombie. A burst of fire met another, though this one had a barrier of earth conjured to protect it.

I turned about, trying to spot the source of the familiar voice. “Toren!” it called. Another punch of wind erupted near me, blowing off a zombie’s arm. It didn’t even seem to notice, lethargically pulling itself toward me.

I had to dodge to the side to avoid an erupting plume of fire, then I threw a sound grenade at an oncoming bolt of lightning.

The sound grenade detonated like a gong, the ripples of mana disrupting the electric spell and making it fall short of my position.

That was the biggest mistake I made. When that deep, sonorous rumble sounded, even more hands broke through the concrete, the corpses around me screeching in renewed fervor.

“They hunt by sound!” the voice said. I finally managed to pinpoint it, calling from above. I turned my head as I sidestepped a shard of metal, allowing a fireball to splash against my telekinetic shroud. A zombie leapt at me, hefting a giant mace. I used a push of telekinesis to send it to the side, but I could swear they were getting faster.

Darrin Ordin watched from the window of a nearby skyscraper, a panicked look on his usually jaunty face. He watched as a dozen more zombies pulled themselves from the street. “Get over here!” he yelled.

I noticed some of the zombies turning slightly toward him, but each of my attacks made far more sound than he did. Every now and then, Darrin thrust a fist forward, a punch of wind blowing apart the zombies that got too close. But I was quickly losing ground, free patches of concrete being washed away.

I slammed a ton of telekinetic force underneath me, adding an explosive piston stamp at the same time. I rocketed through the air, soaring toward the building Darrin was perched on top of.

I felt my heart thrumming in my chest as I tried to escape, the wind tearing at my clothes. Yet as I twisted slightly, preparing for my feet to meet the building’s wall, I saw the ground below.

My eyes widened. The streets were a sea of seething purple eyes, all watching me in unison. The zombies glared at me with undisguised hate, mana whirling around each and every one of them.

And then the volley started. Spells of every mana affinity shot in bolts and blasts and balls, trying to knock me out of the sky. Their aim was shabby, many of the projectiles going wide. But a fist-sized chunk of stone clipped my shoulder, sending a network of cracks along my barrier.

I twisted slightly, easily adjusting for the strike. A dozen fireballs appeared in the air around me, flying off and seeking any spells that were getting too close. A baseball-sized chunk of stone nearly reached me, but a flash of telekinesis split it into a dozen shards before it could hit. Flecks of stone ricocheted harmlessly off my telekinetic barrier.

I landed feet-first against the building, just below Darrin. He was peering out of a window, his fists clenched as he looked at the sea of enemies below.

They were preparing another volley. I had no doubt it would tear this brick to smithereens.

I spied a few of the newer zombies beginning to move through the crowd, a seeming purpose in their strides. The zombies that popped up more recently were less decayed than the others, their limbs and bodies intact. Instead of stumbling along, their movements were more intent, their purple eyes a deeper violet.

Elites?

“Get in here!” Darrin said hastily, lowering a hand down to me, “And use that spell of yours to kill our sound! That’s how they hunt!”

I took his proffered arm with a grunt, allowing myself to be hauled into the building. It looked like a typical office setup, with cubicles as far as the eye could see.

Darrin immediately started running, not checking to see if I was behind him. His blonde hair was already matted with sweat. I pushed outward with a sound spell, muffling both my own noise and Darrin’s.

“Where are we going?” I asked, vaulting over a computer desk. Darrin shot me a piercing, panicked glare, raising a hand to his lips.

“Sound won’t get a foot past us,” I said reassuringly. “I’ve erected a barrier around us as we run.”

I spared a quick glance behind me as I heard glass shattering. One of the more intact corpses had thrown itself through one of the window panes, and several more were following. Its beady eyes were locked on me, a shortsword in its hand.

“You better have,” Darrin said after a moment, darting around a corner. I followed, using a pull of telekinesis to whip myself around the edge. “Those necrotic bastards hunt primarily by sound. We need to get away from them first, then lay quiet!”

A tendril of water lurched toward me from behind, but Promise came in from the side, shearing straight through the aquatic tentacle. The zombies were unable to match our speed, but more kept coming.

“You better have a plan to get us out of this building!” I said hoarsely.

“Trust me!”

Darrin led me to the far end of the office building. We rushed past empty cubicles, the lighting overhead powered by unseen electricity. Papers were strewn across tables as if they had simply been left in the middle of a task. I couldn’t stop to investigate, however, as I was forced to decapitate a zombie that got too close.

“Should I distract them with a sound grenade?” I asked. It seemed like Darrin and I were making progress as we bounded up a flight of stairs.

“That will just make more of them appear, even if it gets some of these undead off our backs,” Darrin replied with labored breath. “No, we just need to get to the roof!”

We burst out of a metal door, the lock shearing as two strengthened mages slammed against the bar. It barely slowed us down as we burst back out into the open air, an overcast sky greeting us.

Darrin immediately turned around, throwing a metal can in front of the roof access door. He lodged it shut, trying to make a barrier against whatever came up after us.

We were about five stories up. Nearby, a skyscraper stretched three hundred feet into the air, casting us in its dim shadow.

“What now?” I said, feeling slightly breathless. We’d gained a lead on the undead by a decent margin, but I had no illusions they wouldn’t catch up if we loitered.

Darrin narrowed his eyes at the nearby skyscraper. “We’re going to get into that tower of steel and glass,” he said. “The rest of my team is there. But you’ll need to jump to get to it.”

“The skyscraper?” I said, feeling a bit confused. “I can make that jump, sure. But what about you?”

“Skyscraper?” Darrin replied, side-eying me. “That’s a good name for the building. I’ll have to remember it.” The leader of the Unblooded party flashed me a grin that was a painful attempt at his usual jaunty smile. “And you’ll have to throw me across.”

My thoughts were interrupted as the door shook, a deep dent appearing in the metal.

“Alright, alright!” I said, stepping backward and preparing to run. “Jump right after me, okay? You’re going to feel some resistance from my emblem. Let it through!”

Darrin nodded, just as the door exploded in spellfire.

I jumped, using a burst of telekinesis and piston stamp to launch myself high into the air, arcing toward the concrete walls of the skyscraper. A barren street passed underneath me, devoid of sound or life. I reached a hand toward the building, lashing out at it with a telekinetic pull. I lurched forward quicker.

Darrin couldn’t jump nearly as far as me. I quickly sped past him in the air as I continued to climb, my magic far more suited to mobility.

But I didn’t let that stop me. My other hand snapped behind me as Darrin reached the apex of his arc, his short clothes flapping in the breeze. My emblem activated, my own spell trying to take hold of the man.

It shuddered against Darrin’s natural mana defenses. The striker began to fall.

Come on, come on! I thought, gritting my teeth and sending more mana into the spell. Drop your goddamn defenses, Darrin!

My emblem snapped into place just as Darrin nearly left my range. I hauled with my mind, feeling the strain on my magic as I simultaneously pulled myself to the skyscraper and tugged on a man behind me.

Darrin whooped, which was thankfully still muffled by my sound bubble. His eyes were blown wide with adrenaline, a mix of excitement and terror on his face.

We struck the skyscraper. Darrin immediately scrabbled for a handhold, slipping for a moment before he managed to tag the ledge of a window. I simply clung on by using telekinetic pulls against my foot and hands, clinging like an absurd cross between a ninja and Spiderman.

My heartbeat thrummed in my ears, my blood pulsing in my veins. I turned back to the building we’d leapt from, meeting the baleful purple eyes of the undead. They had stopped, watching us from afar.

“Didn’t think we’d make it,” Darrin said with a slight chuckle. “By the Sovereigns, that was a rush.”

“What’s stopping them from following us further?” I asked breathily, hanging on desperately. The attention of the undead was still fixed on us with laser focus.

“They won’t follow us if we’re far enough away,” Darrin said, pulling himself up to a better position on the skyscraper. His face took on a solemn cast. “Is your team okay?” he said suddenly, looking down at me. “I only saw you when I went to check. Did those corpses get them?”

I swallowed, thinking briefly about my bond. Is my team okay?

“I’m on a solo ascent,” I said absently, maintaining eye contact with the eerie undead down below. There was some sort of familiar… tone, drifting through the air. But I couldn’t put my finger on why it felt so intimately recognizable to my subconscious. “I wasn’t with anybody.”

I felt Darrin’s eyes piercing my back. “We should get to my team,” he said slowly, a note of something undecipherable in his voice. “Come on. It’s not good to be out in the open for too long.”

The ascender casually smashed one of the glass panes, vaulting in. After a last glance at the undead behind me, I followed after him.